NBA.com’s David Aldridge recapped the trade deadline this morning. Included in the article was a Clippers’ tidbit that, surprisingly enough, had nothing to do with Kevin Garnett or Eric Bledsoe:

“The Clips stood pat, but not by their basketball people’s choice. L.A. and Washington had a done deal Wednesday night that would have sent forward Trevor Ariza to the Clippers in exchange for Caron Butler, giving L.A. a long, defensive-oriented body to throw at the likes of Kevin Durant in the playoffs. (Butler, who still has an offseason home in the D.C. area, and who was loved by the locals, didn’t have a problem returning to a non-Arenas Wizards locker room. He’d have been welcomed back as a much-needed offensive option, according to sources.)

But sources indicated that Clippers owner Donald Sterling nixed the deal Thursday morning, not wanting to gamble on the team’s chemistry being affected in any way down the stretch.”

It’s easy to see what the logic of the front office was here. The Clippers’ defensive woes have only worsened on the perimeter, and a deep playoff run could likely entail facing — and surviving — the wrath of Manu Ginobli, Kevin Durant and James Harden. However, the notion that Ariza would provide an ample enough solution to this problem to make us forget his offensive hindrance is false.

It’s no secret that Butler has fallen off defensively. As Jovan Buha beautifully demonstrated earlier this month, Butler is the Clippers’ defensive weak-link at the small forward position. Jovan suggested the Clippers should start Hill or Barnes in his place, having Butler spend the majority of his minutes checking weaker, bench players.

This is something I consider to be a general rule: when a team is contending, and has a legitimate shot at making the finals, they shouldn’t trade a starting-caliber player for someone that doesn’t agreeably make them better. This rings true even more when you factor in how much the Clippers’ chemistry has contributed to their success. Butler has been a contributor to this success in a deeper sense than some would think:

According to NBA.com’s Stats tool, Butler is featured in three of the Clippers’ four best three-man units, as well as their three best four-man units in terms of +/- rating. Not to mention, the duo of Butler/Blake Griffin is only bested by Paul/Griffin and Paul/DJ.

The on/off court stats don’t waiver from Butler’s reputation, either. The Clippers’ defensive rating improves from 102 when he’s on the court to 97.4 when he’s off the court which is roughly the difference between the 2nd best defensive team efficiency in the NBA and the 13th.

No one will deny that Ariza would provide a much-needed defensive upgrade on the perimeter. What’s questionable, though, is whether his defense can make up for the fact that he’s undeniably worse on offense. In 25 minutes per game, he’s scoring 8.4 points on 40 percent shooting from the field and 31.6 percent from beyond the arc. Washington’s defensive rating may improve from 100 to 98.8 with him on the court, but the only solace in Ariza’s offensive efficiency of 96.6 is that it’s only almost as bad as the Washington’s rating of 96. Our very own Jeremy Conlin describes just what an offensive set with Ariza replacing Butler would look like:

“Trying to imagine the Clippers’ offense with Ariza spacing the floor instead of Butler would be like watching complicated time-travel movies like Primer or 12 Monkeys or Looper over and over again. At first you’d be confused, then you’d get a headache, then your nose would start bleeding, and eventually you lose touch with reality and end up eating mayonnaise straight out of the jar because you can’t remember what food tastes like.”

I’d be in agreement with him here, if not for the fact that there is nothing in the world that I wouldn’t smother with mayonnaise.

Another detractor from a possible Ariza-Butler trade scenario is that Butler’s tendency to swing the ball to the open man would be missed. The Clippers assist ratio of 19.1 with Butler on the court is tied with the league-leading San Antonio Spurs. Ariza emulates the Wizards assist ratio of 17.1, which isn’t terrible, but it is in the bottom half of the league at 17. Before you consider this as a result of the teammates Ariza is playing next to, it’s been widely documented that he has one of the worst shot selections in the entire league, which doesn’t exactly supplement the fact that he isn’t a strong shooter in the first place.

Lastly, according to mySynergySports, Ariza scores 22.4 percent (78th out of all players) of his points in transition. The Clippers are already 8th in the league in fast break points, a ranking that is generally positive as there’s nothing wrong with getting as many easy baskets as possible. However, once the post-season comes around, and more importunity the game slows down, LA might be in trouble if they can’t find an alternative source of scoring.

Trevor Ariza may be able to hold off the likes of Jamal Crawford, like he’s done before this season, but he won’t make a nominal difference against someone like Durant, especially with Grant Hill back in the fold. All in all, fans can thank Donald Sterling for valuing chemistry — and the fact that Butler is a better basketball player — over a perennially mediocre defensive stopper.

I love Caron for a million reasons (1st of which is the fact that he was the first FA to pick us) and I’m not unhappy to have him but I would have pulled the trigger, especially if, as it sounds, DC would have been a good landing spot for Caron.

D

The savings wouldn’t be 2 mil. This year’s salary would be prorated, so the total difference over two years would be less than a million. Chump change for Sterling. Butler’s WS/48 are better than Ariza’s for what that’s worth — .093 to .090.

andy

I think you make this trade, you need wing stoppers to get by the Thunder and the Heat, and our weakest defensive part is guarding the 3 which Trevor can only help with. Trevor’s played with Chris before so he wouldn’t take long to fit in. He rebounds better and has a higher A/40 as well.
The Clippers offense won’t be severly hurt if the extra shots from Caron went to Chris or Blake instead.

http://twitter.com/DigbyHowis Digby Howis

I did predicted a Butler trade… Was almost right…

Bongstradamus

Could have signed Terrence Williams on a pro-rated minimum to be an energy guy on the wing that you have to respect on offense. Ainge beat us to it.

JoeLuis323

Ariza’s numbers would’ve deff jumped with CP3 by his side. D wins games plain and simple!. Plan B on moving barnes or Hill to the starting line up to defend starters doesnt sound to bad either but i doubt VDN would vouch for any rotation changes. I hate to say it but VDN is our weakest link .

Clips4

The year Ariza played with CP3 in NOH, his numbers fell in line with his career. Ariza’s numbers would jump in transition because he’s an athlete and would fit better with the second unit. He’s not as good a shooter as Butler or Barnes is.

http://twitter.com/pickyaj008 Aj

I actually wouldn’t have done that trade which indicates the world is ending because I actually agree and endorse a move by Donald Sterling.

In this case, Ariza for Butler would not have made the Clippers team and the starters better. Butler is no longer the defensive presence and athlete that he once was but neither is Ariza.

Has anyone seen him recently? He does not look like the same Ariza from a couple of years ago (the Lakers/Houston Ariza). So with that being said, what will he provide the Clippers that Butler or Hill/Barnes cannot. Barnes is a quicker, more aggressive version of Ariza and possibly a better shooter.

Butler’s role with the starters is to specifically make outside shoots – which he has recently been doing a very good job of.

Breaking up this team and the chemistry would only be justified for a championship caliber move. This was not it.